SMITE – The Problem With Assault Mode

Last week we had the opportunity to preview new SMITE mode, Assault. Now I’ve had a few days to sink in some time I thought I’d write a brief article on my experiences after the reveal. If you haven’t read the article, Assault mode is basically SMITE’s version of the popular ARAM (all random, all mid) from other popular MOBA games such as League of Legends.

I’ve really been enjoying SMITE in recent weeks and the thought of a brand new game mode was really exciting. Especially considering it would add yet another match type for the First Win of the Day bonus. I’ve had some experience with it in League of Legends so I felt I knew what to expect, but sadly my SMITE experience wasn’t as fruitful as my League experience.

Although the fundamental mechanics are very similar in both games, the characters have been designed with totally different goals in mind. For all intents and purposes the game mode does what it was designed to do. Players are given a random God and must compete to survive and defeat the other team. However, this basic recipe is thrown into turmoil with the introduction of healing God’s.

As far as I’m aware the current mechanic is totally random. There is no focus on any kind of balance or God types and although that’s the very base of an ARAM mode, I feel it could be tweaked a little to further improve player experience. Hi-Rez could still maintain the excitement of the random factor with a tiny tweak to the algorithm to ensure some kind of fair experience.

Some may argue that the entire point of ARAM is the random factor, but I would argue that the very base of the game is about enjoying yourself and in all honesty, very few people enjoy a battle they have minimal chances of winning. Tweaking the random factor to balance the healing capabilities of both teams would go a long way to improving the game mode.

Have any of you guys played Assault mode in SMITE? What are your thoughts?

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